The Lovecraftian Art of John Coulthart
I
became aware of British artist John Coulthart in early-2000. I had just
finished an article for Fate magazine titled Mysteries of the Southeast
Pacific, and began surfing the 'net in search of artwork for the piece
(which made significant reference to H.P. Lovecraft's The Call of Cthulhu.)
I eventually came across John's web site, and soon found myself overwhelmed
by the complexity and depth of his achievements. Like many HPL fans, the
only Lovecraft-inspired art I knew was that of the late Raymond Bayless.
It was Bayless' color illustrations of Cthulhu, etc, that graced the dust
covers of Arkham House HPL collections like The Dunwich Horror and
Others and At the Mountains of Madness.
As
evocative as Bayless' efforts were, though, John Coulthart has achieved
extraordinary atmosphere through the use of black and white as well as
muted color; a technique that, in my opinion, best conveys the stark anxiety
and foreboding at the heart of Lovecraft's writings. Whereas Bayless depicted
Cthulhu and the island of R'lyeh in a somewhat rudimentary fashion, it
is Coulthart who seems to truly comprehend Lovecraft's vision of "…abnormal,
non-Euclidean…spheres and dimensions apart from ours." As difficult as
it is to visualize fantastic creatures like Cthulhu, Nyarlathotep, and
Tsathoggua, John Coulthart proved equal to the task of giving form to
such non-anthropomorphic nightmares as Yig, and the bizarrely alien world
of Yuggoth.
I'm
pleased to say that John collaborated with me on two successful articles
for Fate: Mysteries of the Southeast Pacific (July 2000), and Sky
Predators (September 2000.) Illustrating the world of H.P. Lovecraft
is far from his only occupation. Coulthart's body of work includes album
cover designs for Hawkwind, paintings for Magic: The Gathering,
and collaborations with David Britton on the controversial Lord Horror
comics series; as featured in Clive Barker's A-Z of Horror. John's
Lovecraft-inspired illustrations and comic-strip adaptations of the past
ten years have recently been collected in The Haunter of the Dark,
a 128-page volume from Oneiros Books. This includes many previously unseen
works plus an exclusive story/occult invocation, The Great Old Ones,
by acclaimed comics writer, Alan Moore. Coulthart also provided artwork
for the recent Cradle of Filth compilation CD, Lovecraft and
Witch Hearts.
Upcoming
projects include illustration and design work for a Lovecraft-inspired
novella by DC Comics writer, Grant Morrison, plus a new, occult-themed
comics series called The Soul in collaboration with Alan Moore.
The John Coulthart Web Gallery can be found online at http://www.atelier.abelgratis.co.uk/.
